The Yardbirds / Yardbirds ’68 deluxe box

Remixed ’68 gig + demos • Jimmy Page signed box

A new Jimmy Page-era Yardbirds archive release, Yardbirds ’68 will be issued in November.
The package combines a live set with ‘studio sketches’ – a collection of alternate takes and demos from the era.

The live performance is at the Anderson Theatre in New York City. This was given an official release by Epic in 1971 (“Live Yardbirds featuring Jimmy Page”) after the group had disbanded and in the wake of Led Zeppelin’s success, but the label overdubbed crowd noises and other effects onto the recordings and the release had previously been rejected by The Yardbirds in 1968.

However, this new edition has been remixed. The message on Page’s website is as follows: “We thought this might be lost forever, but we’ve rediscovered it, re-mixed it. It’s of great historical importance. We’re delighted to see the release” – Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja and Jimmy Page.

Two-CD and two-LP vinyl sets are available, but so is a signed deluxe box set. The box contains the two CDs, the two vinyl LPs, a deluxe art book with sleeve notes from The Yardbirds and comes signed by Jimmy Page, Jim McCarty and Chris Dreja. It’s £400.

Yardbirds ’68

Live at Anderson Theatre
Train Kept A Rollin’
Mr, You’re A Better Man Than I
Heart Full of Soul
Dazed And Confused
My Baby
Over Under Sideways Down
Drinking Muddy Water
Shapes of Things
White Summer
I’m A Man (contains Moanin’ And Sobbin’)

Chris, there is/was a very comprehensive 2CD Yardbirds collection “Yardbirds Ultimate” issued by Rhino in 2001 with a very good selection of their British and US output (not to mention Italian) and even some solo Keith Relf. Almost all you need except for the BBC sessions and the 1968 live album which I’m pleased to see being properly issued so I can replace my crusty old cassette dub of it.

Ordered the 2 CD version. Unfortunately Page has priced his signature high, as he did with his previous releases, so I won’t be getting that elusive autograph anytime soon. But, more power to him. The signed editions generally go within a week or so.

Given that the JP signed Chris Farlowe recording is now sold out, and Genesis Publishing’s first edition JP Autobiography signed by JP sold out in weeks (The fastest selling book in Genesis 40 year history, which includes numerous Harrison / Starr / Clapton books), this is not a bad deal. Remember this is the first time all three surviving Yardbird’s signatures, from this era, have been released on one item. Hopefully the next project will be the “No Introduction” album and include JP and John Paul Jones.

I like pretty much everything I’ve ever heard from the Yardbirds, regardless of era. No doubt there’s stuff out there I won’t like, but I haven’t heard it yet.

However, I’ve bought next to nothing by them — just a couple of double LP releases in the 70s or early 80s — because I’ve been turned off by the state of what’s available. It often seems like the Yardbirds are the worst-released and worst-anthologized act there is. Contemporaneous album releases of their material seemed to pull from different periods and lineups and rarely reflected what they were doing at the time; subsequent anthologies have usually seemed poorly done, with little comprehensiveness even for a particular era. And I’m a collector as much as a listener, so comprehensiveness matters to me. Nobody likes buying the same thing over and over and over; but I’ve been waiting to buy Yardbirds CDs since the beginning of the 90s, waiting for really good complete (or very close to complete) sets to come out, and I’m starting to get pretty old. Will their sessionography/catalog ever be treated well?

Wow! I’ve been dreaming of owning this album for years, and often used to go and gaze at pictures of it at eil.com where it had a price to match that of the box set. Now it’s finally available at a decent price. (£25 for theDLP, £15 for the DCD for those who have not yet checked it out)
Only problem is I have run out of space for any more vinyl and would really love it in that format to go alongside all my other Yardbirds vinyl. So what to do? A real first world problem…

Ridiculous pricing! Nearly choked when I saw four hundred quid. I’m a big Yardbirds fan but this is way over what I would want to pay. £140 would be the max I reckon. No doubt people will want it and pay the asking price but I couldn’t justify it to myself to pay this much.

I have tremendous respect for The Yardbirds. If you compare singles like Shapes Of Things and Still I’m Sad, both from 1965, to what The Beatles and Rolling Stones were doing in the same year, you realize The Yardbirds were truly innovators.
This box set has an intimidating price, but then again, Mrs. Dreja, McCarty & Page have signed it. I own Little Games, vinyl LP, and the reverse side, with that beautiful black and white photograph portrait of the band, was personally signed by Jim McCarty for me, in 2015. I can assure you, this means a lot to me. Professionally framed, it looks wonderful.
Because I regard The Yardbirds as strongly as I do, I’m going to buy the deluxe box set, signed by the 3 gentlemen. I remember when this most illustrious band broke up, and all these years later, I still have fond memories of Relf, Dreja, McCarty & Page, and the music they left us.
I’m grateful that Jimmy Page does care, and respects what he and his band mates achieved. I have a strong feeling, when I hear this 1968 music for the first time, my eyes are going to get wet…

Yesterday, Wednesday, August 30, I bought the very deluxe edition box set. The total in British Pounds was 435.00. Using XE.com, the world’s number 1 foreign currency conversion site, as as right now, in United States dollars, that’s $560.38. I’ll admit, it’s an astonishing figure.
I’m retired; Military & Commercial aircraft. My income from my monthly retirement check paid for this luxury. Yes, I did debate it. I finally decided, as much as The Yardbirds really do matter to me, it was worth it.
I’ll have 3 signatures from the final 1960’s lineup, I’ll have a deluxe book, with contributions by Dreja, McCarty & Page; I’m assuming some fabulous photography is included. I can only wonder right now what designs were employed for the 2 vinyl record sleeves. I’m certain that they will complement the music. And I do look forward to the bonus tracks! Until now, Cumular Limit, the now out of print CD with sterling sound quality for The Yardbirds 1968 Anderson Theater rehearsals, provided clues as to where the band might have traveled musically. There are songs there from the rehearsals, I’ve heard nowhere else.
Many might think the price of this box set is too high. My rationale was, I’ll have this box set for the rest of my life. I’ll treasure it, enjoy everything about it, and it pleases me that Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty care about this music, to this day, as much as Jimmy Page does.
How do you put a price on Nostalgia? What is the price for your memories? I can’t answer those questions, but I knew I had to own this extraordinary box set of rare Yardbirds music.
Paul, I’m truly grateful to you, for posting this release on your website!